May 27, 2013

The humorist editor who made a serious run for Congress

Today (May 27) is the birthday of John Kendrick Bangs, editor of Harper's Weekly, literary editor of the old Life magazine, humorist, unsuccessful Congressional candidate, and pioneering fantasy writer, born in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1862. Despite his many careers, Bangs lived only to age 59, dying after intestinal surgery.

A biography is "John Kendrick Bangs: Humorist of the Nineties," by his son, Francis Hyde Bangs (Knopf, 1941).